A review by juushika
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

3.0

An experienced demon writes letters to his nephew, advising his work as the personal corrupter of a Christian convert. This is fantastic in audio (I listened to Joss Ackland's reading); the narrator so well inhabits that deceptively charming, incisively cruel personality. The epistolary format is expressive; there's engaging narrative tricks in the interplay between mentor, pupil, and victim, subverting the reader's investment in the speaker and playing with expectations of "good" and "bad" endings. I appreciate the work when read that way: the playfully critical view of humanity's benign and common evils, haunted by the ghost of a horror story. I don't know that the text holds up well to more rigorous criticism, or that the social commentary in particular has aged well. Luckily, I don't care. I'm not Lewis's intended audience and find no benefit in closer reading.